A retired American who lived in Penang, Malaysia, and now has returned to the US shares his thoughts, views and opinions on a variety of subjects ranging from the ridiculous to the controversial. The contents are only limited by his imagination.

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Thursday, February 22, 2018

Yesterday Trump met with the survivors and their parents of the Parkland, Fl. school shooting in a listening and sharing session. There were also parents of victims of previous school shootings, such as Columbine and Sandy Hook. It was an extremely emotional meeting and it was very difficult to watch some of the news coverage. Trump listened attentively and even had a handwritten script on how to act and what to say to those suffering.

One very strange and hypocritical fact I realized from this meeting was that the students and their parents were very heavily vetted and background checked in order to attend the meeting! Why? Did the White House not want anyone who did not support Trump to say something that would upset him? Or was this only to ensure his safety?

If it was to ensure his safety isn't it odd that these people were subject to more strict vetting than the person who purchased an AR-15 assault rifle and murdered their friends, family and fellow classmates? I guess that goes to show us whose lives the White House values!

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Robert Mueller's recent indictment of 13 Russian nationals gives answers, as well as raises a lot of questions. The indictments prove that the Russian government has actively been working for at least 4 years to affect our elections and ultimately bring down our democracy. Finally we have definitive proof that Russia was involved in spreading lies, rumors and spreading false conspiracies to spread hate, mistrust and divisiveness among the American electorate. They used Facebook, Twitter and other social media to spread fake news about Hillary Clinton and any other candidate who was opposed to Trump. They paid people to show up at Trump rallies dressed as Clinton in a prison uniform or to to hold disparaging placards demonizing Clinton. They posted cartoons depicting Jesus as a Trump supporter, while Satan was a Clinton supporter. There were hundreds of websites and groups that pretended to be written by American citizens, but in reality were written by agents of the Russian government. They even organized and supported rallies to further Trump's candidacy. And the ignorant ones among the American voters fell for it! The indictments stated that the Russians used American citizens in their campaign, albeit most of them were unwilling. There are I'm sure some who were quite willing to help. Future indictments undoubtedly will follow and will include American citizens and most likely people connected to the Trump campaign.

Russia's purpose in dividing the country and sowing hatred among our citizens was to elect Donald Trump. They were afraid of Hillary Clinton, as they were of Obama and they wanted Trump because they could manipulate him. The one question I have, is that if the Russians can be indicted for their spurious campaign aimed at electing Trump, why can't Fox news be indicted for doing the same thing? Fox is a conservative leaning supposedly news outlet, which has in the past been an arm of the GOP. Lately though it has become the propaganda wing of the Trump autocracy! For years commentators at Fox news have specialized in racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant content to sow hatred and division among the American public. They spent the entire Obama administration attacking Obama and his family, including his children with racist and anti-Muslim comments. They viciously attacked Michelle Obama for once wearing a sleeveless dress, while saying nothing about our former porn star nude model Melania Trump. They have pushed the "birther" lies about Obama, the debunked Benghazi investigation, the accusations that Obama was a Muslim, the lies about Obama taking away our guns and hundreds more lies. Their news content is strictly geared to white supremacists and the NRA and is peppered with outright lies and misinterpretation of facts. Their sole purpose is to instill hatred towards immigrants, people of color, the LGBT community, women, the disabled and anyone who is not a white, male, straight, Christian, uneducated, native born American! Even now in the wake of the tragedy in Parlkand, Florida, where 17 students were murdered, Fox is accusing the survivors, who are rallying for gun control, of being paid agitators of the left. They are despicable!

So what's the difference between the Russians and Fox News? I don't understand it! It it was any other organization other than Fox, it would be labeled a terrorist organization!

Saturday, February 17, 2018

I very much enjoy writing this blog, as a hobby. Sometimes I get a little frustrated and feeling down when I don't see anybody reading it or following my blog. I don't think that I am the only once that has the opinions that I do and I really like sharing them. If you enjoy reading my posts and would like me to continue posting on a more frequent basis please help by clicking on the blue box that says "FOLLOW" which is located on the top right side of this page. Thanks for your help.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Once again another mass shooting has occurred in the US, this time in Florida. I've written a number of posts on this blog (Another American Mass Shooting! Why?) about school shootings and each time I ponder over whether I want to write a post or not, because it doesn't make a difference. But after 17 people, students and teachers, were murdered by a deranged former student with an assault weapon in a high school in Florida, I was nauseated to the point of tears. I couldn't watch the coverage on TV without tearing up. It took me a few hours to muster the courage to watch even a little of the coverage. My emotions ranged from sadness and sympathy to shock and anger. Immediately I heard the same bullshit, "thoughts and prayers" coming from our lawmakers, especially Republicans. Evidently thoughts and prayers don't work, as this is the 18th school shooting in the past 46 days of this year! Certainly these victims and their families need our prayers, but evidently Republicans in Congress and the governor of Florida need NRA money more!

Using the Second Amendment to justify the need for guns is complete crap. When the Second Amendment was written it referred to guns that could fire one round every one or two minutes, not one a second. It also referred to "a well regulated militia". Well guns are not well regulated and a bunch of gun nuts running around is not a militia, The sad truth is that the majority of gun owners are responsible sane citizens. Who the hell needs an AR-15 for hunting or personal protection? The only reason a person may need one is to kill people. A lot of people!

The 19 year old suspect in custody is not the only one responsible for this massacre. The President, Senators, Congressmen and governors who block sensible gun control measures along with the NRA are responsible. There have been 400 deaths dues to school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012. There have been over 200 school shootings since Sandy Hook. Congress has done nothing! In the rest of the world there have been 18 shootings in the past 20 years! The difference is that countries in the rest of the world have done something to stop the killing of their citizens!

Why have our politicians done nothing? The answer is simple? Money! According to "Politifact" the NRA spends over $200 million in campaign contributions and lobbying to support gun friendly politicians! I guess purchased votes work better than prayers! It is more important for the NRA and the numerous politicians who are dependent upon them to support the gun manufacturers than to protect our children! In the war on terrorism one of the most effective ways to stop the killing is to cut off the funds to the countries sponsoring terrorism. And that's the only way we're going to stop the killing of our children. We must cut off the NRA funding of our government. That will be next to impossible, so if we can't cut off the funding we have to cut off the politicians. Vote them all out to save our kids! There is no reason why our children should risk their lives for an education!!!!

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Glorious leader Donald Trump, a well know coward and draft dodger with 5 deferrals, for bone spurs has decided to play soldier and asked the Pentagon to give him a military parade, with tanks, missiles and plenty of marching soldiers. The only time this country has had a military parade in the style Trump has asked for was to honor our military after WWI and WWII. But now Cadet Bonespurs wants a military parade to honor him!

Not only is this ridiculously insane, it is extremely expensive. Play soldier boy Trump has just submitted a budget cutting Public Television and radio, as well as Medicare and food stamp programs, but he wants to spend millions of dollars for a parade so he can be like his idols, Putin, Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. There should be outrage at even the mention of a parade to satisfy his ego, but the Republicans are staying silent as usual. This request isn't coming from their 5 year old grandchildren. It's coming from the President!

We are the most powerful country in the word, with the most powerful military. We do not need to show off or military might, for the sake of anyone, much less an arrogant, senile, old narcissist. These types of parades are for authoritarian despots such as Trump's idols mentioned above. With Trump never criticizing Putin or other like dictators and attacking our CIA and FBI, it should be obvious that this parade is just one more piece of evidence that Trump and the GOP want to destroy our democracy. So let's rain on his parade and deny him his fantasy!

Friday, February 9, 2018

Let's face it. Trump was not elected by a majority of the American people. He lost the popular vote by quite a large margin, but won in the antiquated Electoral College. which represented Trump's base.
And who are Trump's base? According to The Washington Examiner Trump's base is comprised of 24% of the American electorate. And who are these 24%? This includes white supremacists, racists and bigots, predominantly. Christian Evangelicals, who are basically racists and bigot are well represented in his base.

Since his inauguration Trump has served his base well with his attacks on Muslims, women, the LGBT community, immigrants, and people of color. He has tried to stop the immigration of Muslims and people from Hispanic and non-white countries. He has attempted to roll back civil rights gained by LGBT and other minority communities during the Obama administration and even before. He now is attacking DACA, to satisfy his base, who want no immigrants in this country, even though their ancestors were immigrants. In his first year as President Trump has managed to severely divide the country and instill hate among her citizens. He has tried to blame all of the problems of the country on immigrants, especially Muslims and brown people. (Just like Hitler blamed the Jews for all of Germany's problems). He has employed white supremacists in the highest positions of his administration and even has a known racist as Attorney General. He has even called Haiti and countries of Africa "shitholes" while questioning why we should allow their citizens to come here. He has truly made America hate again by bringing us back 100 years.

He has done what his racist, white supremacist, bigoted base had wanted him to do. So enough is enough. He was elected to the Presidency to serve ALL Americans, regardless of the color of their skin, their religion, their national origin, their gender or their national origin. It's now time to serve the other 76% of the American people! It's time to get America back to being the America that she really is and let racists and bigots and haters go back under the rocks where Trump found them!

Thursday, February 8, 2018

A lot of my friends are very confused and perplexed at why the Republicans in Congress simply sit back and let Trump destroy our democracy. It is now a forgone conclusion that Russia meddled in our 2016 elections, which most likely allowed Trump to become President. Yet knowing this the Republicans are hampering and even attempting to block Special Prosecutor Mueller's investigation into Russia's involvement and the part the Trump administration may have played in these treasonous acts. The media, except for the propaganda wing of the GOP, FOX News, have been scratching their heads trying to figure out why the GOP are doing everything in their power to discredit the investigation, the FBI, the Justice Department and the CIA. Worse yet with the knowledge that Russia will definitely try to meddle in the upcoming 2018 elections, the Republicans have done nothing to rectify the situation.

All the political pundits are stymied as to why the GOP are trying to stop the investigation, except for a very few who think that they are trying to hide Trump's guilt. But in my opinion the answer is quite obvious and simple. The Republicans know they are going to lose big time in 2018 and they need and want Russia's help in maintaining their majority!

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

It seems as though since Trump took office everything I was taught by my parents is being questioned and given new meanings. Morality has been completely redefined thanks to Trump and the morons who support him.

When I was a child and told a lie I got punished for it. It was a lie. Not an untruth. Not an alternative fact or anything else. So when Trump lies, which he does so frequently, why in hell can't the media call him a liar and what he says lies instead of fallacies or untruths?

Today, with Trump's lawyers saying he probably will not be interviewed by Mueller because he has trouble "exaggerating or talking too much" and Congressional Republicans agreeing with everything Trump says it has become an accepted fact that Trump cannot tell the truth. It has become normal for the President of the United States to lie to the American people and it is perfectly okay! What a great role model for our children!